990 Super Duke R (MY2007)

This is where the whole character of the bike lives. There's no mass to fight, so quick changes of direction stay light and the front never feels reluctant to flick one way then the other. What sets this one apart from the model before it is composure when you roll back onto the gas; the old fidgetiness on corner exit is gone, so you can feed in power sooner without the bike getting nervous underneath you. It asks for commitment and hands it straight back.

What the directness actually buys you shows up when a corner asks for a decision late. Because the bike answers the instant you ask, you can throw it in early with full confidence and still reshape the arc in the final beat before you tip toward the apex. Most machines make you choose your line and live with it. This one lets you revise it that late and rewards the gamble, which is how a closing gap turns into a clean way through when it counts.

Grab a big handful and the front holds its geometry instead of collapsing forward, which keeps the chassis sitting at the attitude you set on the way in. The power is supersport grade, and there's plenty of it, but it comes on measured rather than grabby, so you can trust it deep into an entry without the rear going light or stepping out. Strong and predictable, which is exactly what a bike this committed asks for when you're carrying real speed.

The driveline tells you where KTM cut its teeth long before it built road bikes. The gearbox has a light action with the ratios stacked close together, and it runs up through the box cleanly enough that you can leave the clutch alone on the way up and it never protests. That mechanical honesty in how the power reaches the ground is a real part of why the bike feels so connected to your right hand and foot.

Put this thing on a stand and run your eye over it, and you won't find the usual cost-cutting tells. The turn signals, the carbon at the tail and on the pegs, the bars, none of it reads as the cheapest part that would do the job. Each piece looks specified because it was right, and the small hardware doesn't let you down when you actually look at it closely. That kind of consistency running through a whole machine usually says good things about how it holds together as the miles pile on.

Comfort here means something specific, and it isn't plushness. The riding position drops wide bars under your hands that keep you in command all the way out to full lean, where a small push still moves your line and nothing pushes back at you. That sense of authority is the real comfort this bike offers. Be honest about the rest. The setup arrives firm enough that your first miles read like a race machine reporting every joint in the pavement, and it takes a little time before that flood of information settles into something you actually want. The seat is a solo affair with nothing behind it for a passenger, thin and unforgiving once the ride stretches out. What keeps it livable is the sheer breadth of suspension adjustment, wide enough that you can take the edge off for rough roads or wind it tight for a serious day, and it delivers at both ends of that range.

The practical win I keep coming back to is range. This R holds a good deal more fuel than the bike it replaced, and it manages that while being quicker and sharper than that machine ever was, which isn't the trade you normally get handed. In real terms the gas gauge stops running your schedule, and a hard ride can keep going well past the point where the old one would have had you scanning exits for a station.